UN Secretary-General talks with EU leaders on immigrant crisis

Wednesday, September 09, 2015 | 18:24:24

(VOVworld) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed with European leaders how to address the immigrant crisis. During a telephone call on Tuesday with the leaders of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, Mr Ban said the EU needed to take responsibility and uphold the standards they created.

A child looks out of the window of a train near Gevgelija, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Photo: UNICEF)

He said that most of the refugees in Europe were people who had run away from war and violence, therefore they could seek asylum without any discrimination. Mr Ban called on EU leaders to listen to refugees and quickly devise a joint approach to the crisis. He said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees would continue supporting countries in helping refugees.
A number of American countries, such as Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Colombia, have pledged to receive immigrants.
The EC said on Tuesday that the EU was planning to establish a 1.8-billion-EUR foundation to help African countries protect their border and reduce the number of immigrants to Europe.